


Not Merely to Survive

by ItHasNotEscapedOurNotice



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Apocalypse, Blood and Violence, Dystopia, F/F, Gangs, Horror, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pandemics, Survival, Violence, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:47:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23293468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItHasNotEscapedOurNotice/pseuds/ItHasNotEscapedOurNotice
Summary: The days, weeks and months following an outbreak which has thrown the world as they know it into chaos....
Relationships: Nicole Haught & Randy Nedley, Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Champ Hardy, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Wynonna Earp, Wynonna Earp/Doc Holliday, Xavier Dolls/Wynonna Earp
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	1. It's Nice to Meet You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm stuck at home for the foreseeable future (as with most people), and may just use this to pass the time. 
> 
> I have never written anything, let alone posted it, and as such I do apologise for what is highly likely a very messy brain thing.
> 
> I present to you: my self-isolated, heavily snacked up, pandemic inspired brain mess.

9 days since the outbreak.

The noise echoed through the dark as her feet struck the pavement in quick succession. She navigated through the maze of shipping containers and rusted machinery parts which littered Purgatory’s industrial precinct yards. Ignoring her burning lungs, she ducked into a dimly lit concrete building, cautiously closing the metal door behind her and scrambling on her hands and knees, feeling her way through the dirt and grime to wedge herself under a nearby welding bench, chest heaving and pulse thumping in her eardrums.

She had only been on two supply runs since the outbreak, both which went smoothly, no injuries or - _swallowing audibly_ -, losses. Two days after her run to the abandoned supermarket the camp had run out of propane and as they had limited options to cook with, she and one of the other survivors, Chuck, had been tasked with a supply run. They were to retrieve some from the industrial yards, as the gas station and hardware store supplies had since been depleted.

They had just climbed through a hole in the wire fencing when a hoard of the infected, six or seven of them, rounded the nearest shipping container, sighting them and immediately advancing on them in a mass of entangled limbs, clouded yellow eyes fixed on their prey and godawful guttural noises tearing out of their rotting mouths. That’s when they were split up.

Briefly, she considered where Chuck might be, hoping that he had managed to outrun the hoard and get to somewhere safe. Her thoughts were interrupted when someone or something crashed into the door, turning the metal handle before opening it partially and slipping through before swiftly closing it behind them. From what she could gather, that someone was most probably human, given that the hoard weren’t exactly adept in opening and closing doors (thankfully), but she stayed crouched under the bench, quietening her breathing so that she could listen more closely to the person on the other side of the room.

The hoard wasn’t the only threat these days. Bands of survivors had all but thrived in the chaos that came in the days and weeks since the outbreak, forming gangs and terrorising those trying to survive themselves.

Thinking Chuck had probably seen her head into the building and followed suit, she grabbed her flashlight from her belt and without turning it on, slowly started to turn herself so that she could use her free hand to grab the edge of the bench. She started to pull herself up, hoping to get a glimpse of the other person in the room when - … _clink.._ she knocked a small piece of metal from the bench, causing it to land on the floor about a foot from where she was hiding.

As she ducked back down a blur of a hand shot past her cheek and grasped a fistful of the shirt on her chest while another arm snaked its way around her neck, immediately constricting her throat and making it impossible for her to breathe. With a forceful jerk she was pulled up and backwards over the bench as she landed, not so gracefully, on her back on the metal worktable. In a frenzy she violently and blindly swung her arms above her head, her flashlight connecting with what she assumed was someone’s face. Their grasp loosened for a split second before she felt the cool, biting edge of a blade press itself against the exposed side of her throat. She immediately froze up, the feeling of ice water rushing through her veins…

 _“.. where is he?” –_ a hoarse, female voice snarled into her ear.

Her body frozen by fear, its talons prohibiting her from moving. thinking. speaking.

She squeezed her eyes shut as her captor tugged harshly on the fistful of shirt, causing her to slide backwards, her brunette hair unravelled, tumbling over the edge of the bench as the crown of her head pressed up against the other woman’s thigh.

_“I said, where is he? What have you done with him!”_

She refused to open her eyes, her face scrunched up and her heart pounding in her chest, thinking that there was really no way out of this, this was it for her, killed by one of the gangs, not even one of the infected!

At least the infected didn’t have a choice. People had a choice, and they chose to be _assholes._

With an audible swallow she managed to respond in a high pitched nonsensical fashion.. _“I don’t.. I.. who.. I.. who are you?! I haven’t… pleasedontkillme!!”_

After a moment of quiet, she felt the pressure of the blade ease away, a warm trickle of blood ran down the side of her neck. The rough hand that had been crushing her chest into the table, keeping her still, released its iron grip.

Eyes still scrunched tightly, she took a deep breath before opening them, trying to focus on the shadowed figure looming over her. The woman above stepped backwards and out of sight, causing the brunette to slowly swivel around on the bench and, much to the protest of her groaning muscles, she raised her right hand above her head as a sign of peace.

The other woman stood with her back to the wall, blade in hand, breathing hard through her nose. Her other hand was rubbing her jaw where the flashlight had connected and broken the skin.

She was tall, with dark red hair pulled back into a messy braid. Her face was angled, dark brown eyes boring into the girl atop the work bench, unwavering. A worn black polo shirt, torn down one side, revealed taught, pale skin below which a thick utility belt was slung on her hips.

 _“Who do you work for?”_ the redhead spoke, her voice more controlled now.

_“I, I don’t work for anyone… I mean I did, I worked at Shorty’s until the whole apocalypse is nigh thing and then Wynonna and I, we were hiding out in there when they found us and –“_

The brunette spoke, maybe too much, but hey she wasn’t dead yet so that was a plus.

 _“If.. you aren’t with the gangs? Why are you here then?”_ eyeing the brunette suspiciously, though lowering the blade so that it was resting next to her thigh.

_“With the gangs! Are you kidding? I’m here looking for propane, wait, aren’t you with the gangs? The whole pick me up and throw me on the table, holding a knife to my throat was pretty…. gang.. ish, wasn’t it?”_

The redhead mulled over the information, eyeing the brunette who for all intents and purposes didn’t _look_ like a gang member, with her messy, wavy hair and scuffed converse sneakers. Not that that was much to go by, the gangs had kids as young as 11 working for them now, but the smaller woman seemed genuine and had been hiding under a bench when she had confronted her, she didn’t exactly instigate the fight.

At that the redhead sheathed her knife into the utility belt and extended her hand out, a flush of guilt colouring her cheeks when the smaller girl instinctively flinched away.

“ _I’m Nicole. The gang who hide out here took one of our group, I came here to find him but bumped into a hoard of about seven infected, so I ducked in here to get away from them. I’m sorry for getting so…. rough with you, I thought you were with them. I am going to take your word for it that you aren’t” –_ she tapped the knife on her belt as a gentle warning.

The smaller woman slowly lowered herself down from the bench, cautiously eyeing the knife attached to the redhead’s hip.

_“I didn’t know that this was a hideout, if I had we never would have come here. I’m sorry about your friend. I got separated from Chuck, another group member, just as we made it through the fence on the western side of the yards.”_

Seeing the woman’s arm still outstretched, she reached out to shake her hand, an oddly formal gesture given the current state of the world.

_“I’m Waverly, it’s…. nice to meet you.”_

Looking up to meet Nicole’s eyes, she felt a slight smile tug at the corner of her mouth.

They stood still for that moment, looking at one another.

That’s when they heard the screaming.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope quarantine is treating you okay.
> 
> Take care now.

Waverly spun around and stared, wide eyed, at the closed door. The screaming subsided and silence descended around them.

Turning back to the woman behind her, her voice barely above a whisper “that sounded like a woman, d’you think someone else ran into the infected you saw earlier?”

Nicole’s eyes were focused on the door, her mouth was drawn into a thin line, the muscles in her jaw moving as she clenched her teeth. She took a step forward so that she was shoulder to shoulder with the smaller woman, looking sidelong at her, weighing something up for a few moments.

“I need to see what’s going on out there. That… scream, that could lead me to the person I’m here to find, or it could be the person you came with. Y’think we can trust each other long enough to check it out?” Her voice was low, Waverly noted that the woman spoke with a slight drawl.

With a small nod, the brunette exhaled a short, sharp breath as if concluding some sort of quick internal debate “I think I can manage that.”

As they made their way towards the door, Nicole’s gaze shifted to something in the corner of the room. She quickly made her way over to an industrial sized multi-level toolbox.

After reaching in, rummaging around for a moment she produced a small metal hatchet. Waverly’s eyes widened slightly at the site of it, until Nicole grasped the hatchet by the neck and extended the handle out towards Waverly, offering it to her.

“Here, as good as your flashlight is as a weapon, I think you could use this _”_ she absently ghosted her fingers over the split skin of her jaw, a result of the earlier scuffle.

Blushing slightly, Waverly reached out to take the hatchet “I’m sorry about that, I…. thank you” She looked down at the weapon in her hands, turning it over, getting a feel for its weight.

Slowly, Waverly moved forward and turned the handle of the door, easing it open, before peering out into the dark yards. A row of shipping containers stood about 20 feet across from them, forming a sort of wall, and creating an alleyway running either direction from the building that they were in. After checking that the visible surrounding areas were clear, Waverly turned back to give Nicole a quick nod.

They quietly made their way along the outside wall of the building, before they ran diagonally across the open space so that they were now against the shipping containers. Approaching the edge of the last container, Waverly slowed, not wanting to rush around into what she could imagine as an immediate and horrifying death.

As she stopped and peeked around the corner, she felt the weight of the other woman press against her back. Nicole was craning her neck over Waverly’s head – _damn being so short_ – as one of her hands came to rest on the smaller woman’s shoulder to steady herself. Momentarily, Waverly turned her gaze up slightly to catch Nicole’s focused profile as she surveyed the path ahead, unsure why the sight gave her a sense of comfort. With a slight shake of her head, she turned her focus back to what was in front of them.

The movement of shadows distorting the light from a building about seventy yards away caught their attention. As they moved closer, they could hear the quiet murmur of voices the intermittent sound of metal rattling, like the mesh doors of the old cattle crates that used to affix to the trucks which dropped cows off to the homestead in the springtime.

“Let’s try n see what’s going on in there” Nicole pointed to the air vents running along the back of the building. The dull yellow light was visible through the grated mesh, but the vents were a good eight foot from the ground.

“No time like the apocalypse for a piggy-back, _eh?”_ Waverly almost cringed as the words left her mouth, maybe it was residual nerves from the earlier scuffle.

To her surprise a grin spread across the redhead’s face, as she lent down slightly so that she was eye level with the brunette. “That’s _exactly_ what I was thinkin”

They made their way over to the back of the building, careful to be quiet and to move through the shadows as much as possible. Nicole took a moment to survey the vents, pacing back and forth before stopping and gesturing for the smaller woman to come closer.

“You’ll get the best view from here, it might be a bit obscured but it’s worth a shot”

She lowered herself to her knees so that she was kneeling in front of Waverly, looking up at the brunette.

Waverly walked around so that she was standing directly behind her, placing one foot either side of Nicole’s legs. She placed her hands on the other woman’s shoulders, feeling Nicole’ taught muscles tense slightly under the touch before relaxing again.

Nicole turned, looking back at the woman behind her “Well don’t leave a girl waiting, you gonna climb on or leave me down here kneeling on the dirt like an idiot?.”

At that Waverly lifted her leg up and over Nicole’s shoulder, Nicole’s arm wrapping around and resting on her knee to secure it in its place. To balance herself out she awkwardly placed both of her hands on top of Nicole’s head, eliciting a small chuckle from the kneeling woman, before she swung her other leg over so that she was sitting on the shoulders of a complete stranger in the middle of the industrial yards as potential infected roamed around, threatening their very existence.

What a way to go she thought. Just _great._

Waverly let out a small gasp as Nicole smoothly got to her feet in a fluid motion, her arms firmly locking Waverly’s legs in place against Nicole’s shoulders. She had to hand it to her, the woman was strong.

Waverly placed her hands against the concrete wall to steady herself and moved her face so that she could get a view through the vents into the building. It looked like some sort of mechanic shed, with a mezzanine floor running along the right-hand side of the building. Directly in front were two roller doors, both opened about halfway. Two men were standing just outside, facing away from where Waverly was peering through. They were looking out towards the darkness beyond the roller doors, their voices audible but unintelligible over the rumbling of what Waverly assumed was a generator.

Waverly gasped.

Against the wall in the left side of the building there was a large rudimentary looking metal cage. She could see a man crouched, his back was facing her, but she recognised the red _Avengers_ shirt. It was Chuck. He was alive, she was relieved, but he was in a cage. Why the hell was he in a cage?

There was another man in the cage, he was sitting next to Chuck. He turned to speak to Chuck, Waverly catching his side profile. He had greying hair sitting under a black Stetson and a wiry moustache atop his upper lip. Waverly recognised him instantly, it was Sherriff Nedley.

On the far side of the cage sat a younger woman, she couldn’t have been more than fourteen or fifteen years old. Sandy blonde hair pulled into a messy ponytail and a pale pink jumper. She sat, facing Waverly’s direction, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She looked terrified.

Waverly whispered to Nicole to let her down, who obliged right away. Waverly relayed the information to about the man at the door, the people, the _cage._ Why the fuck were they in a cage?

Nicole’s hands found their way to Waverly’s shoulders, lowering her head slightly, her eye’s pleading, soft, searching for confirmation within Waverly’s own.

“You sure it’s Nedley? it sounds like him a’right, I didn’t realise you knew him but it’s who I’m here to find”

“I’m sure it’s him, I’ve known Nedley forever, he’s been there for me and Wy during…. “ she shook her head “I’m sure it’s him.” The brunette considered the woman in front of her. Sherriff Nedley must mean something to Nicole.

Nicole let out a long exhale, she rubbed her temples, squeezing her eyes shut.

When she opened her eyes they were focused, her brow slightly furrowed causing a tiny line to appear on her forehead.

Nicole placed her hand back on Waverly’s shoulder and when she spoke her tone was unwavering, Waverly thought, a tone which could command an army “We’re going to get them out of there.”

Even in the dim light of the waning crescent moon Waverly’s eyes shone. Deep green like fjord waters, Nicole met them with her own, searching them.

Waverly spoke, her voice as soft as the springtime birdsong, she echoed the plan back to the redhead.

“We’re going to get them out of there”


End file.
